Friday, March 16, 2012

Whoops! Looks like the city of South Miami's police chief has a problem!


I'm not really sure how we've ended up where we are today.  It seems like we started writing about mortgage fraud years ago, then a few months back we stumbled upon the story of three tellers at a tag agency getting arrested for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the tag agency.  Through a weird chain of events we then found out that the tag agency was owned by the wife of the City of South Miami's police chief and oddly enough we found that despite the fact that the tag agency in question was no where near the City of South Miami, somehow the city still sent this tag agency it's business.  Strange chain of events, huh?

Let's disregard how fucked up the case against the three tellers in the tag agency story is for a moment, as a matter of fact, let's just forget about the whole tag agency story for the time being.  When we exposed the City of South Miami doing business with the police chief's wife's company, there seemed to be an air of impropriety around that business relationship, especially when the city could have gone ahead and done business directly with a county owned tag agency and saved themselves some money or at least done business with a tag agency that's within their own city limits.  It just doesn't seem kosher for the city to be conducting business like this.  It turns out that it's not only not kosher, but it seems to be against the city's own code of ethics!


Let's take a look at the language in the City of South Miami's own code of ethics ordinance Section 8A-1...


(a)
Designation. This section shall be designated and known as the "City of South Miami Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance." This section shall be applicable to all city personnel as defined below, and shall also constitute a standard of ethical conduct and behavior for all autonomous personnel, quasi-judicial personnel, advisory personnel and departmental personnel. The provisions of this section shall be applied in a cumulative manner. By way of example, and not as a limitation, subsections (c) and (d) may be applied to the same contract or transaction.
(b)
Definitions. For the purposes of this section the following definitions shall be effective:
(1)
The term "commission members" shall refer to the mayor and the members of the city commission.
(2)
The term "autonomous personnel" shall refer to the members of autonomous authorities, boards and agencies, such as the city community redevelopment agency and the health facilities authority.
(3)
The term "quasi-judicial personnel" shall refer to the members of the planning board, the environmental review and preservation board, the code enforcement board and such other individuals, boards and agencies of the city as perform quasi-judicial functions.
(4)
The term "advisory personnel" shall refer to the members of those city advisory boards and agencies whose sole or primary responsibility is to recommend legislation or give advice to the citycommission.
(5)
The term "departmental personnel" shall refer to the city clerk, the city manager, department heads, the city attorney, and all assistants to the city clerk, city manager and city attorney, however titled.
(6)
The term "employees" shall refer to all other personnel employed by the city.
(7)
The term "compensation" shall refer to any money, gift, favor, thing of value or financial benefit conferred, or to be conferred, in return for services rendered or to be rendered.
(8)
The term "controlling financial interest" shall refer to ownership, directly or indirectly, of ten percent or more of the outstanding capital stock in any corporation or a direct or indirect interest of ten percent or more in a firm, partnership, or other business entity at the time of transacting business with the city.
(9)
The term "immediate family" shall refer to the spouse, parents, children, brothers and sisters of the person involved.
(10)
The term "transact any business" shall refer to the purchase or sale by the city of specific goods or services for consideration and to submitting a bid, a proposal in response to a RFP, a statement of qualifications in response to a request by the city, or entering into contract negotiations for the provision on any goods or services, whichever first occurs.

Ok, so far so good.  This section defines who's who, let's move on to subsection C...
(c)Prohibition on transacting business with the city. No person included in the terms defined in paragraphs (b)(1) through (6) and in paragraph (b)(9) shall enter into any contract or transact any business in which that person or a member of the immediate family has a financial interest, direct or indirect with the city or any person or agency acting for the city, and any such contract, agreement or businessengagement entered in violation of this subsection shall render the transaction voidable. Willful violation of this subsection shall constitute malfeasance in office and shall effect forfeiture of office or position. 
Could that be any clearer?  According to what we just read NO ONE defined in paragraphs (B)(1) through (6) and in paragraph (B)(9) can do any kind of business with an entity in which that person or a member of that person's immediate family has a financial interest in!  In other words, the City of South Miami can not do any business with the police chief's wife's company!  And what's the penalty for breaking this code of ethics? From the same ordinance...

Willful violation of this subsection shall constitute malfeasance in office and shall effect forfeiture of office or position.  

YIKES!


How about that?  If you're a city employee and you're caught steering business to an entity that you have an interest in or worse that's owned by a family member, your ass will get fired!  

So what now folks?  Does anyone think anything will happen to the Orlando Martinez de Castro, the chief of police of the City of South Miami, for steering work to his wife's tag agency?  I don't know, the word on the street says that there are some investigators from the county already snooping around to see what's going on...




11 comments:

  1. I just hope they find more on this Mfucker

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  2. Great Job!! Its always good to know someone is doing something about the corruption in Miami even if its just exposed and the people that should do something about it, DONT!

    Thanks for taking your own time to blog these stories

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  3. Mike, I will bet you a dollar nothing happens to the Chief.As you know the City Manager is a retired City of Miami Police Major. I hope I am wrong. Keep up the great work you do.

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  4. That family is rotten.

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  5. good job....linking is fun isn't it?

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  6. I meant linking the web of corruption...we are already linked :o)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yep! What do you think our friend Joe is going to do about this?

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  8. He'll he was crooked the first time he was was working for the city! This guy is a real price of !

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  9. CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI CHARTER
    ARTICLE VI
    GENERAL PROVISIONS

    SECTION 1. Conflict of Interest

    The City Commission shall, by ordinance, enact a conflict of
    interest ordinance, which shall be at least equal to the standards of conduct for public officers and employees as set forth in the state statutes and the Miami-Dade County code. A Commission member may not serve as a voting member of any board that reports to the Commission.
    (Amended 2/8/00)
    SOUTH MIAMI CITY CHARTER
    AMENDED 11-02-10
    p28

    http://www.southmiamifl.gov/clientuploads/Archive/CSM_Charter/CHARTERrevised11-02-10.adoptedbyreferendumfinal.pdf

    2012 City of South Miami Commission Members: Mayor Stoddard, Vice Mayor Liebman, Commissioner Valerie Newman Hurley, Commissioner Harris, Commissioner Welsh.

    http://www.southmiamifl.gov/index.php?submenu=government&src=gendocs&link=MayorCommissioners&category=government

    South Miami Community Redevelopment Agency Budget is approved by its Board and then sent to the City of South Miami Commission for amendments and approval to be sent to the Board of County Commissioners of Miami Dade County.

    2012 South Miami Community Redevelopment Agency Board: Chair Stoddard, Board member Liebman, Board member Valerie Newman Hurley, Board member Harris, Board member Welsh. (Automatic Appointments)

    Not Updated
    http://www.southmiamifl.gov/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=smcra_board&category=SMCRA_TPL1_Page

    ReplyDelete
  10. March 20, 2012 Commission Meeting
    Click on the Ball and drag to Start at the 0:59:25 mark during after conclusion of City Attorney Report

    http://southmiami.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=170&meta_id=9278

    City of South Miami Commissioner Valerie Newman Hurley Slams Mayor Stoddard for innuendos, rumors, (Not the First Time)about city staff including the police chief and does not even get sanctioned (like Commissioner Palmer 09072010 Commission Meeting) by being out of order for presenting false information to the Body.

    http://www.communitynewspapers.com/south-miami/showdown-at-city-hall/print/

    http://www.southmiamifl.gov/clientuploads/Archive/CSM_Comm_Minutes_2010/CSM_Minutes_9-07-10.pdf

    Mayor Stoddard (along as it is White it is Right) for Commissioner Valerie Newman Hurley but not Commissioner Palmer.

    Commissioner Valerie Newman Hurley probably has a couple of Sunshine Law violations on Mayor Stoddard...

    ReplyDelete
  11. City Managers Report to the Commission for April 3, 2012
    page 4
    d. central services
    iv. "A Related Parties Transaction" form was developed for....

    Departments monthly briefing reports
    read more:

    http://www.southmiamifl.gov/index.php?submenu=Manager2&src=gendocs&ref=MonthlyBriefingReports&category=Manager2

    ReplyDelete